SEAL at Sunrise (Silver SEALs Book 12) Read online

  Liam put down the magazine and sighed. Fine, if he wanted to be honest, and occasionally he was with himself, there was also the fact that he could keep an eye on the men of Black Dawn and Midnight Delta.

  Fuck, when had he grown ovaries?

  “Hello.”

  He watched as the receptionist walked up to the desk, sat down and crossed her legs. Liam mentally shook his head. Really? You needed four-inch heels and a short skirt to greet guests and answer phones? This had to be Conroy’s doing. He hadn’t met the man, but Laird had filled him in. Apparently, he was the technical and financial genius behind Declan’s organization. Ergo, he had arranged for this location here in Washington D.C. that included the leggy blonde. Liam wasn’t impressed.

  “May I help you?” she asked. Oh hell, even her voice was a husky purr. Yep, not impressed at all. Liam preferred the shit-throwing spider monkeys in the Yucatan to this simpering bullshit.

  “I’m here for the meeting,” he clipped out.

  “Oh,” she sat up straighter and flashed a wry grin. “I should have guessed. You have that vibe, but sometimes the ‘straights’ come through the door.” Suddenly she sounded human. “Dec and most of the guys are in the back. You’re second to the last. We’re just waiting on the liaison.” She got up and was much shorter. “Follow me.”

  On nylon-covered feet she walked briskly through a maze of empty cubicles. “Those shoes are a killer,” she confided.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m a friend of Conn’s. He’s keeping me around to annoy K.C. He hasn’t figured out that’s what he’s doing. But it’s working.”

  Liam shook his head, it was as if water had gotten into his ears. He considered asking her what in the hell she was talking about, then thought better of it.

  “Are Conn and Laird in the conference room together?” he asked. Liam knew that they had a running feud going on.

  “Yeah, but I put the shortbread cookies on one end and the oat bran muffins on the other, so it kept them apart.”

  “Smart.”

  “There’s the conference room. Gotta hustle, wanna have my shoes on by the time the liaison arrives.”

  Liam nodded and stopped far enough away from the glass fishbowl that he could see the occupants without them noticing him. He assumed the man with his head bent over his laptop feeding himself a bite of a muffin was Conroy Lake. He wasn’t surprised by his size. Laird had tried to make him sound like a ninety-pound weakling, but since the two of them occasionally engaged in brawls, Liam knew that Conn had to be big enough to hold his own.

  Liam observed his nephew. His hair was even longer than when he’d last seen him, his face had filled out a little. Did Allie cook? He’d only met the woman when he’d attended their wedding. She hadn’t seemed like the domestic type, considering she was an FBI agent. Hell, maybe it was Declan who was the one doing the cooking.

  He watched as Declan smiled at something Brannon Dodge said. The big black man chuckled in response. Dec really looked different. His smile was different. It took Liam a moment to pinpoint the change. Then he got it. His nephew’s grin was genuine. It stopped Liam short.

  Declan didn’t just look happy. He looked content.

  It eased something in Liam to know that after the hell Dec had gone through years ago as an Army Ranger, he had made it through to the other side.

  Green eyes shot up and caught his. Declan lifted his dark brows. Liam stepped forward and opened the door to the conference room.

  “I was wondering if you were going to need an engraved invitation.” Declan walked around the table and pulled Liam in for a hug.

  “That was some fucked-up shit in Mexico,” Declan said. “How’d you get that DHS bastard to agree to let us work the case?”

  “Were you going to stop working it if he gave it to someone else?” Liam asked as he slid into a leather conference room chair.

  Conroy thrust a dog tag over his head. “These women are under our care now. We’re going to find out who killed them.”

  Liam watched as Declan, Laird, Cooper, Hudson, and Brannon all nodded.

  Declan gave him a onceover. “What was your plan if Silas assigned this to someone else?”

  All eyes turned to him and he chuckled. “He floated that idea, but since I wasn’t going to give him the dog tags, his hands were tied.”

  “It runs in the family, huh?” The man Liam assumed was Conroy asked.

  “And you are?” Liam raised his eyebrow.

  “Sorry.” Conroy stood up, leaned over the table and held out his hand. “Conroy Lake, at your service, Sir. I’ve heard a shit-ton of good things about you. I read over your record, you got a raw fucking deal.” Conroy sat back down and grinned. “From what I heard, Kane McNamara is trying to get Ass-Lick Anders sent to Nome, Alaska, but do you really want to do that to the people stationed there? One of the things on my things-to-do-list is to destroy that asshole’s credit rating. Hell, he won’t even be able to cash a check at Payday Loans by the time I get done with him.”

  “That does hold a great deal of appeal, but we’re going to let Josiah handle this,” Liam said easily.

  “Bullshit, that’s not how we do things,” Laird bellowed. “You got fucked over, therefore we fuck ‘em harder.”

  “For once I agree with the red-headed Neanderthal,” Conroy smirked.

  Liam crossed his arms. “Josiah has him in his sights. He’s going to ensure that Anders doesn’t do anything to put or keep a man in harm’s way again.”

  “You have a hell of a lot of confidence for an organization that did you dirty,” Conroy said.

  “You never served, did you?”

  “I served a whole hell of a lot of places. I served food at Jasper’s in Malibu. I served on a jury in Illinois. I served the winning shot against Brannon when we played beach volleyball two years ago. And I served Thanksgiving dinner at a shelter down on skid row in L.A.”

  Conn eyed him carefully to see how he’d take his insolence.

  This wasn’t the first time—or the hundredth time—that Liam had been tested by a powerful man, so Conroy didn’t ruffle his feathers.

  “Conroy, if one person in this group turned out to be a prick, would you assume the rest were? I doubt it. You’d trust the rest of this team to handle him or her. I have a hell of a lot of years invested in serving my country and the men and women I worked with. They’ll do the right thing.”

  “Then why’d you retire?” Conroy quickly questioned.

  “It was time,” Liam said succinctly.

  “Why—”

  “Can it, Conn,” Declan interrupted.

  “He can’t just say it was time. That’s a bullshit answer.”

  “It’s all the answer you’re going to get.” Declan shut down his friend. It was clear who was the alpha dog. “Okay, Liam, you’re taking point on this, so how are we proceeding?”

  “I want to know the reason for bringing in Naval Intelligence,” Conn said.

  “Jesus, you sure are acting like a whiny little bitch,” Laird rumbled from the other end of the table. “When are you going to get off your ass and bed K.C.? And if you’re not going to, let me know, because I haven’t met a woman that put-together in years.”

  Conroy started to rise from his chair and Brannon put his hand down on his shoulder. “Laird’s right. You have a hair-pin trigger. You’re not doing any of us any good. Hell, if this liaison is any good, maybe he should replace you.”

  “She,” Declan said.

  Liam turned around to see who Declan was staring at through the glass windows of the conference room and time stopped.

  Addison.

  His Addison.

  He was really seeing her. How was that even possible, and what was she doing here? He was slower than all the other men in the room to stand up as she walked in behind the blond receptionist. Vaguely he heard the girl ask Addison if she would like coffee or water. When she said ‘No’ her voice reverberated through Liam’s brain like a clanging bell.<
br />
  Addison Sanders.

  For the briefest moment, her silver eyes met his, but then she looked around the room until they landed on Conroy’s.

  Was he talking?

  “You must be Addison Sanders,” Conroy was saying. “C.I.A. by way of the Navy, currently working as a mid-level intelligence analyst. You could be in a higher position if you’d have stayed in the Navy and got a promotion and then transferred over to the C.I.A. Seems like a poor career move on your part.”

  Time sped up and his gaze jerked away from a woman who had haunted him for fifteen long years, and he scowled at Conn. The man was an asshole, there was no getting around it.

  “You must be Conroy Lake. Do you mind if we introduce ourselves before you make suggestions on how I wear my hair, too?” Addison asked.

  Laird let out a huge laugh. “I like you. Give him hell.”

  Her voice had that Southwest twang that he remembered.

  Liam was happy to see Conn flush as he sat back down. Brannon whispered something into his ear and Conroy’s fists clenched. Hudson came around from the other side of the table and held out his hand to Addison.

  “Don’t mind them. Brannon’s just telling him that he needs to get a girlfriend. Conn hasn’t been at his best these days, so don’t take the chair next to him. There’s one available between Coop and me.”

  “She needs to sit next to me,” Laird bellowed. “Anyone who can hold her own against Conroy Lake is on team Campbell.”

  “She’s sitting next to me.”

  Shit, had he just said that?

  Addison gave him an assessing look and that’s when Liam realized that she’d known he’d be there. His presence hadn’t come as a surprise to her.

  “Thanks, Liam. It’s good to see you again. I have a question for you,” her eyes had that hint of a grin that he remembered so well. He waited for it.

  He nodded.

  “Did I just return to high school?”

  Ah, shit, she still had that little dimple on the side of her mouth. How was it he’d been stupid enough to chase her away?

  “Hello, Addison.” His voice was that slow, sinful rumble that used to speak to every feminine part of her soul. He pulled out the chair next to him.

  And dammit, it still did.

  She waited for him to say something more, anything. Because seeing him. Hearing him. It was like a dying plant finally getting water, she just wanted to soak it in.

  “Hudson, why don’t you go sit back down?”

  Addison watched as Hudson sauntered back to his chair, but not before smirking at Liam.

  “Let me introduce you to everyone,” Liam continued. “Across the table is the CEO of McAllister Enterprises, my nephew, Declan McAllister.”

  Addison saw the family resemblance, but compared to Liam’s blue eyes and silver hair…

  Get a grip. It’s been fifteen years. God knows what’s going on in his life now.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Sanders,” Declan smiled and nodded.

  “To his right is his cohort, Hudson Wells. As you can tell, he runs off at the mouth.”

  “It’s good to have you on the team,” Hudson beamed. He clapped his hand on the dark-haired man to his left. “This is Cooper Laughlin. You’ll like him. Not as much as me, but he’s a good guy.”

  “Damned by faint praise again. It’s nice to meet you, Mizz Sanders,” Cooper said.

  Addison detected a Southern accent.

  “It’s nice to meet you as well,” she smiled. “Call me Addison.”

  Hudson looked over at the man who had been whispering into Conroy’s ear. The big man studied her. He nodded his head. “It’s good to have you on the team, Addison.”

  “It’s good to have you on the team, Lass,” the redheaded giant said as he offered her a plate of cookies. “I’m Laird Campbell by the way. The rude fellow who didn’t introduce himself was Brannon Dodge.”

  “Continue calling her Lass, and you’ll be on your ass. Got that?” Liam’s voice was so mild she didn’t even realize that he had threatened Laird until the Scotsman roared with laughter.

  “You know, I don’t remember Liam ever talking about you, Lass. How long have you known one another?” Laird asked.

  Addison took a cookie off the plate and sat down in the chair that Liam was still holding for her. She bit into the shortbread and chewed slowly. Before she had a chance to answer Laird’s question, Liam stepped in.

  “Addison and I,” Liam said, stressing her name, “knew each other fifteen years ago. Long before I met you.” Liam sat down next to her, and suddenly the room felt a lot smaller. Why was Liam acting like this? The last time she’d seen him, he was locked up tighter than a drum and she couldn’t get in with a crowbar, laser, or blowtorch. He’d left her with the heartbreaking decision to walk away. Now he was acting damn near possessive. It was like she was in an alternate reality.

  And they said women were the crazy sex.

  She set half the cookie down on the napkin that Laird had provided. “Now that I know everybody, is there any chance someone could catch me up to speed?”

  “Uncle, I think that means you’re up,” Declan said with a grin.

  Addison leaned over and picked up her tote and pulled out her portfolio. She opened it, pulled out a pen and let it hover over the blank notepad she’d put in that morning, then looked expectantly at Liam.

  “You’re not going to need to take a lot of notes,” Conroy spoke up. “Did you bring a computer?”

  “Yes,” she said slowly as she looked at the focused man.

  “I have your e-mail. I’ll send you the pertinent details, that’ll speed things along.”

  Addison glanced sideways over at Liam to see how he was processing Conroy’s comments. She saw his eyes narrowing and she smiled inwardly. Ah, this was not going to go well for Mr. Lake.

  “Conroy?” Liam’s voice no longer held the sexy, but it was still rumbling, all right.

  The man pushed up his glasses and looked over at Liam. “Yeah? Oh, don’t worry, I’ll e-mail everything to you, too. I wouldn’t keep you out of the loop.”

  “While I appreciate the fact that you coordinate information for Declan,” Liam said mildly, “I would prefer that we discuss how things are disseminated before you decide to do it yourself.”

  The dark-haired man scowled at Liam and opened his mouth.

  Declan leaned ever so slightly forward. “Yes?”

  Conroy shut his mouth, then opened it again. “You’re right. I’ll ask you next time.”

  Well, he showed a little bit of self-preservation, perhaps there was hope for him, Addison thought.

  Liam turned his attention to Addison. “Before we get into the case, can you tell me how you got roped into this assignment?”

  “I volunteered.”

  Liam lifted his eyebrow. “You did, did you?”

  “I don’t know a lot about what’s going on, but I was told you were working on a cold case that could involve a missing female chief petty officer. I worked on a case that involved missing children. Normally it would have been booted over to the FBI, but we were too deep into it before we realized what we had. I also have a degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology from Ferrum in Virginia. The fact that there might be a connection with the Navy was compelling.”

  “Here’s her file, Liam. She was pretty damned successful with that case she mentioned, not that she’s gotten the credit that she’s deserved.” Conroy slid a file across the smooth surface of the conference table to Liam. He ignored it.

  This time it was Addison who lifted her eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to look at it?”

  “I’d prefer to hear about your time at Langley from you,” he answered. His eyes seemed to see right through her. Why did she want to spill all of her secrets?

  Stop it!

  This was the man who broke her heart. Granted, she might have been the one who walked away, but it took years for her to put herself back together.

  “
Can you tell me more about this situation?” she asked evenly.

  Yay Team Sanders. Keep your head on the here and now.

  Liam nodded. He looked grim. Worse than.

  Ah, shit, it was going to be bad.

  “Tell me,” she urged.

  He hesitated. “Liam, trust me, I’ve seen some ugly. There have been a couple of times where I wished I could have bleached my brain. You don’t have to filter.”

  Her head jerked when metal hit the conference room table and slid across, hitting her file.

  “Jesus, you utter asshole,” Laird stood up and pressed his fists against the conference room table as he bellowed at Conroy. “Have some compassion. That isn’t just some necklace you’re tossing about, that’s a person. That’s some woman who was murdered. We can guess how. And you’re showing her nothing but disrespect.”

  Liam picked up the dog tag and handed it to Addison. She brushed her thumb against the raised letters. “Who is Catherine Lewis, USN, Catholic?”

  “She was a Petty Officer First Class, twenty-four years old from Stanton Island. She enlisted when she was nineteen. She was one of those girls who slipped through the cracks. She’d gone on leave to California and was never seen or heard from again.”

  Beneath Conroy’s derisive and angry attitude, she felt hints of pain. Interesting. Then she focused on what he’d said. “You mean to tell me that there wasn’t an investigation? She’d been in the Navy for five years. What kind of record did she have?” Addison asked.

  “She had just changed from non-rotated sea duty outside of CONUS. According to her C.O., she liked serving overseas, but she finally wanted to come home, so they transferred her to a vessel that was in CONUS. It was within the first two weeks of her being assigned to the new aircraft carrier, so even though her command knew she was missing, she didn’t have new friends to insist it wasn’t like her and press for a big investigation.” Liam answered.

  “What about her family?” Addison asked.